Another earth spike question

[Alcazar]

Hi, all, been following the post about earth spikes elsewhere on here. I put a 4 foot copper one into the floor (made of earth) in my cellar, and connected it to the distribution board with a 10mm cable, soon to be swopped for a 16mm, via a borne, sited on the wall in the kitchen, which I fitted 'cos the book said to.

I used to wonder what the borne was for, now I know.

But my question is: how do I measure the resistance, using said borne? I have  multimeter which will do resistances as well as voltage, current etc.

TIA.
Alcazar

[Gyn_Paul]

I've no doubt Punch will be hot on my heels with the correct name, but as far as I can remember you need a thing which was coloquially called a meggameter.

All I can remember about it is you connected it up and pressed a button and read the ohms resistance off the meter's scale. Given that you press a button it would seem reasonable to suppose electricity passes and the meter is measuring how much!

Come on Paul, over to you !!

 

paul-gyn

[Punch]

I gave a fairly detailed response to this a short time back. I think this is the thread;

I have purchase a proprietary earth tester which is much easier than fannying around with ohmeters and meggers.

http://forums.livingfrance.com/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=285&messageid=99553#bm98656

Paul

 

[Alcazar]

Many thanks for the link, and the instructive reply therein.

Is there any mileage in extra earth rods, and having them all connected in series, say? They are dirt cheap from Screwfix, and the connectors are readily available too.

Would I be advised to put one OUTSIDE as well as the one in the cellar?

The "existing" earth was a hollow steel tube buried in the ground, with a piece of 1.5mm earth solid core attached to it by forming a loop on the end, and pushing it into the open end of the tube It was attached to a FEW of the sockets!

Alcazar

[Punch]

 

Is there any mileage in extra earth rods, and having them all connected in series, say? They are dirt cheap from Screwfix, and the connectors are readily available too.

Yes there is, and this is often the method I use to get a reading when soil conditions are bad. The thing to remember is to have the rods at least the length of the rod apart from each other. Best to get a reading first rather than going to the troube of doing this. 100 ohms or less is what you need.

Would I be advised to put one OUTSIDE as well as the one in the cellar?

Why not

The "existing" earth was a hollow steel tube buried in the ground, with a piece of 1.5mm earth solid core attached to it by forming a loop on the end, and pushing it into the open end of the tube It was attached to a FEW of the sockets!

Quite common this, I've seen all sorts of ingenious earth rods, none of which were probably very effective!

Paul

Alcazar